Fire Stones
by MissLavery
Summary: Tenten barely escapes an early death twice during her life. The first time, her father had saved her. The second, Sasuke had chosen her to spend the night with him, but does he save her, or did he ruin her only chance to be saved? AU
1. Prologue

**A/N: Before you start reading - I previously published this story as a NejiTen fic. However, after some more writing, I decided the male lead character I was writing about was more a 'Sasuke' than a 'Neji', and since the SasuTen pairing is also one I find extremely sexy (inhuman squeal), I decided... why not?**

**Prologue**

_3__rd__ December, MCM45 – Lingnan, Chi'ne_

It never snowed here in Lingnan, but something about its winters made it no less bearable. The cold seeped into your bones and numbed your joints, and no matter how many layers you put on, it would just feel as if you had trapped the cold inside your body instead of keeping it out. However, Tenten supposed this was better than the summers, which were long, and involved unforgiving heat, even in the night time. Today, the sun was bright, but the sky was a filthy grey. As Tenten made her way down a main market street, some stalls were already half closed. Nearby, their owners stood with their heads down, huddling into their thick coats and carefully counting the day's income, occasionally swatting a mosquito or a fly out of their faces. The streets were near empty, as the night food market had not started yet. Here in Lingnan, a small village situated on the south-eastern boarder of the country of Chi'ne, twilight was always a quiet affair.

Tenten sucked in a deep, cold breath of air which stung her nose and lungs with its dryness. She was now close to her destination. The area could be seen from afar. It was a huge expanse walled off with a fence hastily made with uneven pieces of scrap wood and bamboo. Tenten knew she was not supposed to be here because her mother had warned her many times before that the _huoshi_ mines was no place for little girls like her – but she missed her father. In fact, she had not seen him in days and it seemed he had no intention of coming home anytime soon, although he had specifically promised her that he would be in time for her seventh birthday. So, if he was not coming home to her, she'd go to him.

The entrance was a gaping and wide open gate, with no guards, so Tenten slipped in easily. Her little feet left a trail of tiny clouds of risen dirt and dust as they hit the loose soil which had evidently been overturned many times before. _Huoshi_ mines were a new addition to the village. Word has it that a few years ago, when Lingnan was still a humble, heavily agricultural town, one of the local farmers found one of his sheep choking while grazing. After some pushing and a lot of heaving, the sheep spat out a single, multi-coloured crystal no bigger than the tip of a thumb. It was a strange but beautiful object, certainly not anything anyone had ever seen before. After that, Lingnan became a mine village overnight.

The truth was nobody really knew who had started this, or which had been the initial discovery. All they knew was that once the first few stones were exposed, word began to spread like wildfire. Soon, envoys from the royal Chi'ne palace arrived at the village and took over the command work of the farming and mining of these new gems. Locals like Tenten's own father, who was originally a weapons master and seller, were "mass employed" to do the labour, but the profits had now become the country's profit. The royal family even gave names to these stones – _huoshi_, 'fire stones' they called them. Tenten did not really understand why they would call them that. These stones came in all shapes, sizes and colours. They were just as much 'water stones' or 'golden stones' as they were 'fire stones', but apparently, the Empress Dowager Renfu, the Emporers own mother, had eyes only for the red ones, and so if she wanted them to be called fire stones, then they were fire stones.

Tenten was careful not to slip into any of the numerous gigantic craters which sunk into the earth around her. These were the _huoshi_ mines, stretching one after another across fields into the distance, each with a diameter of at least half a mile. She could see men, and occasionally, some women too, scattered across them like ants, their shovels _clank clank clunking_ as they hit the soil in a steady rhythm. She had been here just once before, a few weeks ago, with her mother, to bring her father his winter coat. She could still remember exactly which cavern it was her father had been working on – this was one of the things she knew was special about her, because the adults always praised her about it. Tenten had an incredible sense of direction and map memory; which was perhaps somehow a by-product of the target training her parents liked to give her with their famous handmade kunais and shurikens. Her parents owned and ran (for now, it was just her mother) the only weapons shop in town, and they were famous for it because they were ex-agents for the royal Chi'ne family before they retired when Tenten's mother became pregnant.

"Pa!" Tenten shouts delightfully as she catches a glimpse of what looks like her father.

He turns at the familiar voice, and Tenten sees his face has become severely tanned. In fact, it is copper – brown from the old sun, with a hint of pinkish red from the new burns. His arms and legs are dirty – the dust standing out as pale against his darkened skin. The ends of his utility jacket and worn out jeans are rolled up, despite the cold. His face is happy for a split-second, before it falls to become stern.

"Tenten, what are you doing here?" He asks.

She pouts.

"This place is dangerous for children. Does your Ma know you're here?"

She shakes her head.

They are silent for a moment, before she says in a tiny voice:

"I just wanted to come see you, Pa. You haven't been home for days."

His face softens, as a hint of a smile gleams from his eyes.

"I know, I'm sorry, Tenten. It's just that they found a new hotspot a few days ago, and we haven't been able to stop."

She shuffles her feet against the loose soil.

"I don't like these fire stones…" she says. Her father hushes her.

"Don't say that here."

"When will Pa be home…?"She looks up at him.

He smiles and pats her on the head.

"I'll come home to see you and Ma very soon. Tomorrow night, perhaps, if all things go as planned."

Tenten sniffles in the cold air and nods.

"Ok." She says.

He takes off his jacket and pulls it onto her. It is much too large, so he rolls up the sleeves for her.

"It's cold, Pa." She says.

"I don't need it. We don't want you getting ill now, do we? Your Ma will have a fit."

"No…" she whispers softly.

He sighs at his daughter.

Suddenly, there is a twinkle in his eyes as he kneels down and faces her.

"I wasn't going to give you this until I got home, but…"

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a few, tiny, colourful fire stones.

"Pa!" she squeaks.

"Shhh," he hushes her. "I thought you didn't like them, eh?" He teases. She giggles sheepishly.

"Now don't tell anyone about these, keep it safe in your pocket and go straight home; and do me a favor, will you?"

"What is it?" she asks, stuffing the tiny prize into her pocket.

"Save one for your Ma for me. Ok?"

She nods happily before receiving a final pat on the head.

As Tenten turns to leave, a sudden rumbling like thunder, echoes across the sky, and her father grabs hold of her arm to stop her. Slowly, the people around them hear it too. They drop their tools and begin to search the skies for the source. The noise becomes louder and louder; and then tiny black dots slide into view. They grow until they are no longer dots, and the noise becomes deafening.

Tenten presses herself against her father's legs and trembles at the large helicopters screaming above them in the sky.

"Pa, Pa! What's going on?" she cries, but her father cannot hear her over the noise. People around them begin to scream and shout in confusion because they know; from the photographs they have seen and footages on the news, even though they do not know why.

Tenten's father suddenly picks her up and begins to run. She cries, because she is uncomfortable - her body is being thrown in all directions as they are both pushed and shoved by the scramble of people moving in all directions. They hear it; the first drop of a bomb hitting one of the mines furthest away, and a dreaded feeling strikes them in the guts, leaving them out of breath.

The noises are getting closer, and soon, people are moving in one direction like current. Tenten and her father are pushed along with them. Scattered pieces of objects fly at their faces as they feel the heat against their backs and see each other's horrified faces light up; bursting flames reflecting in their eyes; they hear it above them; they hear the high pitch noise of it dropping…

Tenten watches over her father's shoulder as the flames rush towards them and she knows it is about to swallow them both.

In one second, millions are evaporated from the face of the earth.

**A/N - Songs of the chapter: 'The Living Sculptures of Pemberley' for the first part, 'Snape to Malfoy Manor' for the second! Muahahaha.**


	2. Amen

**Chapter 1 – Amen**

_9th September, MCM56 – Lossaire, Britannia _

Tenten sat without moving; without even blinking, and stared at the nothingness in front of her. She shivered. It was only the first week of September, but the temperatures had already been dropping as soon as August had ended, as if the elements knew the lines men had drawn to define the seasons, and were more than happy to oblige. She hated the weather here. It was raining; always raining. In fact, it was raining right now. Through the painted glass window from across her pew, she saw (through the few patches of glass that were not stained) a dark grey, dusk sky. And if she stared long enough, she would be able to spot the tiny movements the droplets made. Not a glorious, powerful downpour like the tropical showers from home – ones that left the streets with the enchanting, sweet smell of petrichor. No, the rain here was always a sorry drizzles that spat on your face, partnered with gusts of stinging wind. And it was constantly as such. All 365 days. Well, apart from the winter time when it snowed. The weather then was tolerable; or the two or three weeks sometime between July and August, where Mother Nature would bless with minimal sunshine. It was what the locals knew as "summer". It was pathetic.

Currently, Tenten was in a state of delicate balance. She was not quite cold, but she was a little distance from becoming so. As long as she did not move – as long as she stayed very, very still and allowed no more parts of her skin direct contact with the air, she could be content; or at least hold on until the end of this chapel service. And so, Tenten continued to sit, unmoving, both her hands tucked under her thighs, separated only by the grey, woolen skirt she was wearing. She was sure that by now, the thick material must have imprinted some sort of pattern onto her hand. Tenten did not particularly like their school's uniform. It was unflattering. The skirts were too long; the blazers were supposed to be unisex and were therefore straight and rectangular, giving little shape to the waist. Some of the other girls, especially the _day pupils_, liked to buy the more shapely blazers from one of the trendy boutiques in town, instead of from the school shop. They would get a servant or tailor to sew the school badge back on in an attempt to pass as official school attire. The switch was always stupidly obvious – usually the colours were a bit off, sometimes even ridiculously so, but the teachers had always turned somewhat of a blind eye to this trend.

The girl sitting next to her, Hannah Forster, sneezed rather loudly and Tenten felt herself jolting out of her thoughts and blinked a few times in response. The choir was now singing a long, dreary hymn by Mendelssohn.

_ Hear my prayer O God incline Thine ear_

_ Thyself from my petition do not hide_

_ Thyself from my petition…._

Emily Millington, a delicately tiny girl, despite being the same age as Tenten, with powdery pale skin and blond curls, was singing a solo_. _Her high pitched, soprano voice echoed sharply across the chapel as it glided on and on and on. Tenten moved a hand to scratch an itch on her nose and immediately felt another shiver coming on. She shoved her hand back under her bottom and sighed.

Emily was now chirping out an extra-long, high note of the word "God".

"_O Goooooooood" _She was singing.

Tenten waited to see how long this "God" was going to last, and also to see if any quivering or breathlessness or any other sort of tear would appear in Millington's voice as the "God" kept on going longer and longer. It would be funny if her voice broke at this moment. Or went off key. But it did not. What a shame, for she dearly loved to laugh. A family trait, perhaps? Tenten smiled at her own little joke.

"…_incline Thine ear!_"

Ah, finally, the long "God" note stopped. So had Emily's solo. Now, the entire choir – soprano, alto, tenor, bass – all roared out in unison.

"_Hear my prayer O God incline Thine ear!_"

"The enemy shouteth!" sang Emily Millington.

"_The enemy shouteth!_" the rest of the choir sang after her.

"The godless come fast!"

"_The godless come fast!_"

"In equity hatred upon me they cast!"

"_In equity hatred upon me they cast!_"

"The wicked oppress me…."

Just then Tenten heard a solid clank made by metal against metal come from the door. She was sitting in one of the pews furthest away from the altar, and closest to the main entrance. She, and the others sitting around her, turned their heads towards the door to see who was coming. After all, the school held a very strict policy about being punctual for Sunday chapel service. This person, if a student, would be 20 minutes late by now, and heading into some major trouble from the teachers. The heavy wooden doors opened slowly, and Tenten saw a tall, obviously masculine figure step in through the door. He was wearing navy blue dress trousers and a blazer in the matching colour – the typical boy's uniform. Before Tenten could figure out who it was however, he had already shut the wooden double doors behind him and stepped forward. From where Tenten was sitting, he was blocked from view for a few seconds, as some hazy glass panes by the chapel entrance stood between him and her sight. She did notice however, a younger girl sitting a few rows in front of her, gasp shockingly at what she was seeing, and quickly turned to whisper frantically to her friend.

"Chelsea, hush!" said Hannah Forster from next to Tenten. Said girl turned quickly to cast a nervous glance at the senior who had scolded her, and blushed a light shade of crimson before turning round in her seat again. It was no use however. As the mystery student continued to step into the chapel, more and more students caught sight of him, and soon, the whole few bottom rows of girls had gone into a frenzy of whispers. Tenten strained her neck to catch a glimpse of the student. She wished he could walk faster. By now the choir had broken their unison and had split into a complex harmony.

"O God hear my cry!" sang Millington

"_Perplexed and bewildered O God hear my cry_" replied the soprano.

And then, the boy broke out of the panels and Tenten finally realized why people were whispering.

This boy was oriental, just like she was.

He was a few meters away from her, but there was no doubt about it. Although his skin was uncommonly fair for someone of their race, his hair was jet black and so were his eyes. From Tenten's right, Hannah Forster gave her a light shove in the arm with her elbow. She turned to face her friend, and gave her a look that informed her she was just as surprised as everyone else.

The boy looked positively aloof, even bored, despite everyone's attention on him. He must know he was being talked about – it was damn obvious. One of the youngest girls, who were sitting in the lowest row and were, therefore, inches from him as he walked steadily past, let out a short screeching giggle when he was near, which earned her a stern look from their housemistress. The boy was tall, well-formed, and handsome, and for some reason, his presence was overwhelming. He did not seem uncomfortable with the cloud of whispers floating around him, something Tenten was immediately impressed by, and he soon passed their section of pews, and walked on to the next one, finally stopping at where one of the boys' houses were sitting, and took up a seat next to Mr. Mickleton, housemaster of Thornton. Mickleton seemed to have known he was arriving, as Tenten observed that as soon as the boy was settled, he began to converse with him in a low voice.

"Welcome everyone, to our first Sunday chapel service of the school year." Tenten brought her attention away from the boy. By now, she had not realized, but the choir had already stopped singing and was now seated in their pews. The reverend had begun his sermon.

"I hope you have all had a wonderful summer, for _I_ certainly have!"

Tenten heard Hannah Forster yawn.

"I have just heard some wonderful news from the headmaster." The reverend continued. His voice was heavily nasal in nature, and it often sounded as if he were sneering at you although he was perhaps one of the kindest men Tenten knew in this school. He made an effort to make his voice as comical and dynamic as possible when giving sermons, so chapel services were not normally half as bad as they would be.

"He tells me" said the reverend. "That during the summer, one of our very own Upper VI students received a letter of unconditional offer from Trinity College of Cambridge University. Please send your congratulations to Tenten from London House!"

**A/N**

**A few things I would like to note (I hate doing this, but I feel it is kind of necessary).**

**If you are an American reader (or any non-British reader, in fact), "Upper VI" or "Upper Sixth" is what the British usually call their grade 13 students. According to the UK curriculum, students do 13 years of primary and secondary school before starting their 3 years of university. **

**If you have not realized already, the chapel in this scene is a relatively small one (since it is a **_**school**_** chapel) where all the pews face one another, instead of towards the alter. Just keep this in mind because I have a feeling we will be coming back to the chapel quite often.**

"**What a shame, for I dearly love to laugh"**

"**A family trait, I think."**

**Credits to **_**Pride and Prejudice**_** (2005)**


End file.
